8 moments of anime 2010 (because I couldn’t think of 12)

Although I participated in the blogsphere’s “12 moments of anime” series last December, I didn’t do it this year because I’ve been too busy and I also couldn’t think of twelve things. However, not wanting to neglect it all together, I decided to make one post for the eight moments I have managed to come up with…

#8: The Aniblog Tourney

I’m sure most of you remember the Aniblog Tourney organized by Scamp and others earlier this year. I had never had the opportunity to promote my blog like that before, or to see it directly compared to other blogs, so it was all very exciting. Since the tourney, I believe my blog has gained more readers as well. I also couldn’t believe MAY managed to advance up to Round 4!

#7: Anime Expo 2010

I missed out on AX ’09 so I was determined to go this year. Even though I was only able to go for two days, I had a fantastic time. The highlights of my time there were the May’n/Megumi Nakajima concert, the Toradora! focus panel, and of course buying lots of goodies in the dealer’s hall. Overall, I didn’t have quite as much fun as previous years, but it was still a great AX!

#6: Evangelion 2.2

Even though the second of the new Evangelion movies came out last year, I only got around to watching it this year when the BD/DVD came out. Eva 2.2 was much more exciting than Eva 1.0 not only because it had a lot more new animation and divergences from the TV series, my favorite Eva character, Asuka, finally made her appearance! It’s now been eight years since I first watched Evangelion and I’m finally getting my wish of seeing more Asuka and a different take on the original story.

#5: Rewatching Wolf’s Rain

Wolf’s Rain has been one of my most favorite anime for the past few years, consistently ranking among my top 5 favorites. Although I’ve rewatched it a few times dubbed and subbed over the years, I decided to rewatch it again, but this time on my new 40″ HDTV. Seeing it in upscaled quality on the big screen was almost like seeing it for the first time. I enjoyed this rewatching of it more than any other and I now love it even more than I did before~

#4: Angel Beats!

Out of all the anime I’ve watched this year, Angel Beats! has been the only new favorite, currently ranking among my top 10 favorites, as well as giving me a new favorite character. Think of me what you will for tending to like the really popular anime, but I can’t deny how much I fell in love with Angel Beats! I liked it so much that I even rewatched it (this time in H.264 mkv on my HDTV!) just a few months after finishing it and I loved it even more~ I haven’t become obsessed with a new anime like this since Kannagi two years ago. An official U.S. DVD release of the series can’t come soon enough XD

#3: Haruhi volume 10 preview chapter

I first read the Haruhi novels back in mid-2007 (nine volumes thus far) and since then I’ve been waiting impatiently for three years for the next volume to be published. I finally got part of my wish granted with the release of the first chapter of volume 10 earlier this year. I was so excited about it that I even started writing my own translation of it before someone else finished the job. Even though there’s still no official release date for the rest of volume 10 (would you believe this book was originally supposed to be released in 2007?), having a chapter of it finally come out after three years of being stuck on a cliffhanger in the previous volume was still a great moment for this Haruhi-ist.

#2: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie

Yes, this year was good to Haruhi fans. This movie, which has gotten just about only good to godlike reviews from what I’ve seen, was truly something fans have been waiting for. As many will agree, you don’t even have to be a Haruhi fan to appreciate it. The movie just came out on BD/DVD a few days ago, but I had been able to see it twice subbed in the theater during its run in San Fransisco and LA. Attending the theatrical events and watching it together with other fans made this movie an even more fantastic moment for me this year.

#1: Pokemon Black and White

The Haruhi movie got really close to being #1 on my moments this year, but my excitement for the latest Pokemon games was just a little more intense. I’ve been buying all the new Pokemon games on their release dates since 1999, but I honestly think that I got the most excited about B&W. I was so excited that I even preordered the Japanese version rather than wait for the U.S. release, which is something I’d only done one other time with Pearl version. And boy did I get crazed waiting to play that game – I spent hours browsing sites about it online, practically hunted down the mailman daily, and became overwhelmed with disappointed each day it didn’t come. But as expected, when my copy finally did arrive I played it every waking moment of my spare time until I completed the main story. My initial excitement of it has since died down, but I’m looking forward to reliving it again with the U.S. release! XD

I’d say that the Haruhi movie takes up my top three moments, mostly because of different circumstances and because of all the effort I’ve put in this year towards it.

1. Going to see the movie in San Francisco was an experience I won’t ever forget. Everything about that trip (minus the hotel’s internet issues) was absolutely amazing. Seeing the movie was indescribable and I can’t picture anything else topping that for a while.

2. Obtaining the Blu-Ray of the movie. After tracking the movie for 10 months from theatre to theatre around the whole world, being able to hold my own copy was a fantastic experience. The sheer amount of extras made the price worth it (and has me debating to double-dip and get the DVD edition as well for that artwork).

3. Covering the Japanese premiere of the movie. With such an anticipated opening, having images that I obtained and information being passed on from my translation was a great introduction to the blogosphere/forums.

4. The tenth novel preview goes here for reasons as you mentioned. Seeing rumors that blew my mind become true after I had started them in English relieved and thrilled me. Reading the chapter as well was an amazing continuation of the story and has spun a couple of funny moments with one of the characters.

5. Starting Toradora! and saying “I hate this show” only to come around and marathon it to finish in two nights. It’s still the best written show I’ve ever seen and I love it as much now as I did when I first finished it. Such a shame it’ll never beat Haruhi.

6. Your Railgun post sparking my interest in the To Aru universe. Regardless that I feel Index the show is too hit-and-miss for importing purposes, the novels, the Railgun manga, and the Railgun show introduced a world that appeals to the scientist inside me.

Well, that’d be half the list I’d put up. The three shows I truly care about influenced me tremendously this year and I am grateful I’ve started them all. It’s been an absolutely wonderful year and I’m glad to have shared it with you.

Yes, it’s certainly been a very Haruhi-centered year ^^ (but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Blu-ray box release of the entire series on your list).

In addition to Haruhi, I would say this year is special for you because it’s the year you turned into more of an anime fan than a Haruhi fan (I would like to think meeting me had something to do with it XD) I’m so glad you’ve branched out to other anime and I’ve helped you find series like Toradora! and Railgun that you really love~ Here’s to more years of Haruhi surprises (MAY 2011 RELEASE FOR VOL. 10!!!) and discovering new anime!

Oh, and as a bonus moment, making a friend like you this year and exchanging e-mails and IMs has been great too!

Hmm, you’re right. I think most people’s “moments of anime” lists revolve around watching specific titles as opposed to other anime-related activities they’ve participated in during the year, like the Aniblog Tourney and Anime Expo. Maybe the tourney wasn’t a big deal to others but it was very exciting for me =D

Haruhi is one of a few “making anime history” series, like Evangelion, that every anime fan should watch because it’s had so much influence on the fandom and the direction the entire anime medium has taken since.

It wasn’t too hard for me to come up with twelve moments last year. This year had some great moments, I just couldn’t crank out more than eight.

If you mean the bashing from last year’s Endless Eight, I too can understand it though I don’t share it (after watching the episodes last year, I marathoned E8 a few months ago and loved it XD) I’m really hoping the movie helps redeem the series…from what I’ve seen so far, it has for a few people =)

I’m with you on Angel Beats!, the Haruhi movie, and the May’n/Megumi Nakajima concert at AX2010. Those were very enjoyable moments! The other memorable moment for me is finding various places to watch ongoing series from the current seasons now that I’m not part of a regular anime club. I’ve always been several steps behind the leading edge — and I will probably always be! — but at least I now have a faint idea of what people are talking about when it comes to new series.

I’m glad to have shared those three moments with you, as well as given you inspiration for watching the latest shows =) Even though it can sometimes be a drag and I know there are older shows I should watch, keeping up with at least a few of the seasonal anime gives you more to discuss with fellow fans. I’m sure I would love to watch older anime I haven’t seen just as much as new ones, but I wouldn’t have that additional relatability with most fellow fans.

And like ultimatemegax above, meeting a great anime friend like you would be an additional moment on my list this year~

I’m glad you enjoyed Angel Beats so much. It’s one of those shows that so many watch and so few seem to figure out how they feel about it, both because of it’s own strangeness, and because of the hype circus that comes from being a talked-about show. But I thought it was really excellent and deserving of love like yours.

Thanks so much, it makes me glad that you can appreciate my love for Angel Beats! ^^ You’re right that because of its nature of mixing contrasting themes like drama and violence with comedy and cuteness, makes it difficult for people to form a solid opinion about it. Many can find at least something to like about it because it has a little bit of everything, but only a few can find overall excellence in it.

Guh, I really wanna read the latest Haruhi chapter, but I still haven’t finished the ninth one. I suddenly got bored by it in one of the first few chapters in around March and haven’t bothered to pick it up since.

I’m awaiting the novel. I tried reading the chapter, got two pages through and thought, ‘If I read the rest, I’ll want more and more and I’ll go mental’. So I haven’t read it. Only a few more months though….

I loved seeing Eva for the first time this year, Asuka is by far my favourite as well. I knew from the first second I saw her, she was to become my favourite character in the films/series.

I’ve seen the dubbed episodes of Pokemon many times, so I would want to watch them in Japanese now. I have rewatched the first six or so episodes of the first season fansubbed…Pocketmonsters has released more since then so I should go watch those =)

(I just got the entire DVD collection of Bebop for Christmas. Marathon time.)

I”ve seen the first episode, a couple of miscellaneous clips and part of the second movie in Japanese. It’s really funny just because I”m so used to the English names that it’s weird hearing Zenigame and Lizardon and stuff xD